


I Belong in Your Arms

by mintboy (orphan_account)



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Camping (Implied), Humanstuck, M/M, No Dialogue, One Shot, POV First Person, Sunsets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-29
Updated: 2018-10-29
Packaged: 2019-08-09 16:15:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16453178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/mintboy
Summary: Dave and Karkat take a walk through a forest to the lake at their campsite, and Dave takes time to reflect deeply on the moments they spend together.Named for the Chairlift song of the same name. For my boyfriend.





	I Belong in Your Arms

**Author's Note:**

  * For [KittyMotor](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KittyMotor/gifts).



The walk through the forest to the beach was quiet and dark, the path we were taking overshadowed by tall conifers, towering over us like massive, living skyscrapers. In the darkness of the coming night, the trunks blended into their limbs and branches, the typical brown-green of the trees melting into black silhouettes. The light of the departing daylight fell to our feet in spots of gold, painting the barely-visible earth beneath us as it was a deep brown canvas.

Every step I took invited the sound of rotting needles cracking under my flip-flops. It was cold; the breeze whipped through my already mussed hair and sent goosebumps cascading across the exposed skin of my arms and legs. Not one to be used to the cold, even the chill of the dry, West-coast, August night-time, I had my towel wrapped around my shoulders. With my free hand I clutched it shut against my chest, the rough terry-cloth somehow comfortable when it was bringing me some semblance of heat.

My other hand was wrapped tightly around Karkat’s, as he led the way through the forest. He could see better than me, even without my shades on. I felt a sort of awkward nudity, not having them hugging my cheeks – though I had bared my eyes to Karkat many times in the past, walking such a long distance without even having them on hand was excruciatingly uncomfortable. I had agreed to keep them off during this trip unless Karkat was wearing sunglasses as well, though, and I didn’t intend on breaking my word.

He has a thing about my eyes.

I’ve always thought they were hideous; when I was a child, they were an icy, grey-blue, but eye injury led them to a different burst of color. They took on a dark crimson color in splotches, covering most of my irises and bleeding out into my scleras in tiny, ugly spots. I don’t remember exactly what injury caused this, and over the years I have concluded that I simply did away with the memory. Not that it matters. It’s over with, now, and I had, for the longest time, slid into a kind of malcontent place of hating my eyes. Karkat disagreed whole-heartedly with my theory of their unattractiveness.

He’s compared them to a lot of the things; nebulae, the way the sun shines through the leaves of fall trees. I don’t see it, but I’ve grown to trust him. If he – the most beautiful man I know – thinks them to be beautiful, then there must be some ounce of beauty in them, somehow.

I squeezed his hand as we walked, and he quickly returned the gesture, speeding up. The darkness was intimidating, but not frightening; there was something comforting about it. It was quiet, yet not silent; it was clear we were surrounded by the life of the forest on all sides. The world pure, untainted by violence, the hustle and bustle of the streets, and radio-static. The things I had grown so used to where I was before. Our steps quickened, still; I’m sure he could tell I was cold – besides that, the remaining light was wavering, and that had been half the reason we had walked out so far.

Suddenly, there was a break in the trees, and I felt as if the air had been stolen out of my lungs. Karkat and I stopped at the edge of the forest, still engulfed in darkness, and stared out at the lake.

It spread out evenly across the horizon, wide and blue, surrounded by tree-covered hills. Past them, a tall, snow-capped mountain rose up, reaching up into the sky with its white peak. The sky, though, was the most beautiful part of the scene.

It was a bright palette of bright oranges, pinks, and violets, laced with blue-tinted clouds. The sun was just meeting the mountain, being swallowed by its massive, grey form. Shining a desperate, bright yellow, it was surrounded by a deep, passionate red.

Tugging on my hand, Karkat pulled us out onto the sand and into the light. He turned to face me, his features shimmering in the golden light of the sunset. It danced across his skin, as if the stardust of the universe had somehow found its way onto his face – a feat which I would not be surprised about, as Karkat was so gifted at pulling me up to the stars when I sunk so deeply below the safe, safe earth and home we had created for ourselves.

The light slid through his curls with the grace of galaxies, and as I took a step closer, I saw it sparkle in his warm eyes. They burned with a love and passion I had never before seen in a person, as they always did, the fire that burned in his heart visible from behind his soft gaze.

I dropped the towel, sliding my hand out of his in favor of cupping his cheeks, my touch as soft as I could make it. He deserved the tenderness. He always carried the sort of fine delicateness and resilience of the petals on a blooming flower, while also exuding the same strength and grandeur as the glorious mountain that rose above us. I stroked his cheek gently, feeling a smile creep onto my face.

He smiled back, and I felt the upward curl of his lips against my thumb.

His smile has to be one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. It compares to nothing else; it spreads across his face with such radiance that it awakens in me a warmth and wonder I can’t describe.

I felt my lips shaking as a tear began to fall down my cheek. I scrunched up my scarred face, trying to hold back anything else that might shine through the careful façade that Karkat so easily flushes away. They weren’t tears of sadness, but tears of a feeling of love so deep that I could not control the way I reacted. It radiates through every part of me, always, swallowing me whole.

 He pressed our foreheads together, reaching up and wiping away my tears with his thumbs. I can hear a soft shush under his breath as he holds me closer. After a few moments, he pulls away, taking my discarded towel from the sand and spreading it out. We never really planned to go swimming in the lake; it was more that we’d forgotten to change out of our day clothes, suited for the ninety-degree weather.

He invited me to sit beside him, getting comfortable on the towel. His toes curled in the sand. I kicked off my flip-flops, sinking down beside him. The sand was cool and felt good against my bare feet. I leaned against his shoulder.

Emotions washed over my body and mind like a wave. I brought a hand to my face, swallowing thickly as I tried to user away any tears that threatened to fall. Feeling me shaking, Karkat reached out, putting his hand around my shoulders, and pulled me closer.

We sat there for a while, quiet and peaceful, watching the warm colors of the sunset melt into the deep indigo of the night-time. Stars slowly shone across the open sky, which was not affected by the light pollution of the cities that raged on, hundreds of miles away. It was lovely, to see the untainted stars – the constellations. Every star so bright, so beautiful, so far away.

I lifted my head, turning to Karkat, who met my eyes in an instant. He offered a soft, loving smile, and I felt my heart swell. Putting two fingers on his chin, I ushered him inward, pulling him into a soft kiss. It started off gentle, slow, just our lips meeting for a moment – long enough to feel the love that radiated between us, but too short, far too short. When we broke apart, he pulled me in again, a hand wrapping around my waist. We melted into each other, then, like the wrapping up of a sweet eternity, like a destiny falling into a pre-arranged place; a perfect fit. The kiss was like heaven, the sweet heat in my body pulsating through me, as if he was passing on the light in his heart to me through his lips.

We parted with gasps on our lips. Breathing was nothing like kissing him; he’s my air, my blood, my life, my universe, my everything.

He shifted, laying down on his back on the sandy towel. I lowered myself beside him, resting my head on his chest. His arms wrapped around me; assuring love, assuring safety. I closed my eyes and listened.

There was no silence; I could hear his heart, and I was home.


End file.
